The day Scotland ground to a halt
PARALYSED
Glasgow’s Kingston Bridge – usually one of Europe’s busiest – eerily quiet yesterday as Scotland shivered through another day of weather misery. The deadly snowstorm halted traffic, wiped out train timetables and closed down airports.
THE death toll from the killer Siberian storm battering the UK rose to ten yesterday as blizzards brought Scotland to a standstill.
A Scottish care worker and a sevenyear-old girl are among those who have lost their lives since the extreme weather hit Britain on Tuesday.
Elaine McNeill, from Glasgow, collapsed on Wednesday morning, amid heavy snow and freezing temperatures estimated to have cost the economy £250million yesterday alone.
It is understood that the care worker had been walking to the homes of clients in the Milton area of the city when she collapsed on Kippen Street. Emergency services were called at around 9.40am but Mrs McNeill, believed to be aged 42, was pronounced dead at the scene. A spokesman for Cordia, her employer, said: ‘We are shocked and saddened to hear about the death of our employee, Elaine McNeill.
‘Elaine worked with Cordia for 15 years as a popular and valued member of our home care team.
‘We don’t have any further details about the circumstances of the incident but will be working with the authorities. Our thoughts are with her family at this time.’
Friends and colleagues paid tribute to her on social media, with some users praising the carer’s decision to fight through the conditions to reach vulnerable clients isolated by the weather.
Police Scotland said: ‘A port mortem will taken place in due course, however the death is currently being treated as unexplained.’
As severe weather hit England, a seven-year-old girl died in Looe, Cornwall, when a car skidded off the road and hit a house. It is thought that the child was walking on the pavement at the time.
On Wednesday, a man in his 60s died after falling through ice at a lake in south-east London.
Four people lost their lives in car accidents in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire on Tuesday, and a 52year-old homeless man was found dead inside his freezing tent in Retford, Lincolnshire.
A 75-year-old woman was yesterday found dead beneath a snow-covered car in Leeds, and a 46-year-old man from Southampton was killed in a car crash.
Police Scotland said that between 8am on Wednesday and yesterday morning, its control room staff answered 8,272 weather-related calls.
Officers helped trace a vulnerable man in Forth Valley in ‘severe and life threatening’ conditions in the early hours of yesterday, while two motorists stranded on Clackmannanshire Bridge in 3ft of snow were helped to safety.
And a vulnerable elderly man who got separated from his coach party in Inverness was also traced by officers.
It came as hundreds of thousands of Scots faced day of blocked roads, closed airports and cancelled trains. Business leaders warned that retailers had suffered ‘a tough week’ as the country ground to a halt, leaving many city streets ‘eerily quiet’.
The storm sparked widespread panic buying, with supermarket shelves across Scotland left empty.
Many shops, cafes and restaurants across Scotland were left short staffed and delivery wagons left unable to get through as the Siberian weather system, dubbed the Beast from the East, rendered roads impassable.
The country faces a third day of disruption as the Met Office extended an amber snow warning across the Central Belt into the early hours of this morning.
It states that long delays and cancellations of public transport are likely. Some roads are expected to become blocked by deep snow.
As hundreds of motorists were left stranded on the M80 overnight, many companies encouraged their staff to heed Met Office warnings and work from home.
Roads in the East were virtually deserted during the usual morning peak as motorists heeded warnings to stay indoors.
It is estimated that the financial impact of yesterday’s disruption alone will be equivalent to an unofficial public holiday – which, according to Westminster figures, could be as much as £250million in Scotland.
Colin Borland, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: ‘The scale of the overall impact will depend on how much business has just been displaced and how much will be lost to the economy altogether. Lots of businesses can let staff work from home and many do business entirely online already. But if your sector relies heavily on passing trade or a physical presence, this has been a tough week.’
A spokesman for CBI Scotland said: ‘Businesses are very mindful of their responsibility to protect the health and safety of staff. When it comes to severe weather employers always take a common sense approach.
‘Where commuting is simply too difficult or dangerous, firms will put in place alternative plans. In many roles, remote working is the answer. It is up to employees and companies to assess the weather situation and use their judgment.’
Air travel has been hard hit by the weather, with both Glasgow and Edinburgh airports experiencing closures. Yesterday, a spokesman for Glasgow Airport said: ‘A
‘We are shocked and saddened’
severe amber warning advising against all but essential travel has been issued by the Met Office and will remain in place until tomorrow morning. In light of this and the impact it has been having on passengers and staff travelling to and from the airport we will remain closed for the rest of the day. The decision has been taken with safety of passengers and staff in mind.’
The justice system was also hit by what a spokesman called ‘extreme weather conditions’. Trials at courts in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Livingston, Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline, Hamilton, Alloa, Stirling, Falkirk, Paisley, Dumbarton, Airdrie, Greenock, Perth and Coatbridge were cancelled.
A number of major events across the country have been called off, including this weekend’s Scottish Motorcycle Show at Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre and last night’s X Factor live show at Glasgow’s SSE Hydro.
Tom Siddall, event director for the Scottish Motorcycle Show, said: ‘The safety of visitors and exhibitors is our number one priority, and with that in mind it’s the right decision to reschedule the event from this weekend.
‘We’re looking ahead now to put on another great show in early April, by which time the Beast from the East should be a distant memory.’
Tomorrow’s Mighty Deerstalker obstacle race in Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, has also been cancelled.